Cabinets Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets

or many home wood-
workers, outfitting a
kitchen with hand-

crafted cabinets is the dream
project. Who hasn’t looked
at stock cabinets built with
particleboard, hotmelt glue
and staples and thought, “I
could build something a
whole lot better than this
for half the money.”

And they’re r ight. By

building your own cabinets,
you can upgrade materials
and construction methods.
You’re also not locked into
“stock” sizes. The style,
look, finish, and features are
completely up to you.

If you think about it, cab-

inets are just a bunch of
boxes. The only real chal-
lenge is the size of such a
project. And that’s manage-

able as long as you know
where to get started and
how to proceed.

In the following pages,

we’ll walk you through how
we built these cabinets and
how they compare with
stock cabinets purchased
from a home center. And
hopefully inspire you to
consider building your
own.

If you’ve dreamed of building a kitchen full of cabinets, stop dreaming and start building.
Here’s what you need to know to get custom results for half what stock cabinets cost.

RAISED PANELS

BEVELED GLASS

" INSET DRAWERS

LIGHTED VALANCE

Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets

Plans

N O W

w w w . p l a n s n o w . c o m

CUSTOM HARDWARE

CUTTING BOARD

From Workbench Magazine

Page 1

One copy permitted for personal use. Other copies prohibited.

96"

36"

#/4

145

!/2

45"

Allow 36" - 48" inches of open

access space between banks of cabinets

or between cabinets and a work island.

CABINET AREA DIMENSIONS

BUY OR BUILD?

Unless you’re independently wealthy,
there’s a limit on how much you can
spend for store-bought (stock) cabi-
nets. The typical approach is to pick
out what you like, then whittle away
at the extras to stay within budget.

But suppose you could spend that

same amount on materials. By dis-
counting the labor (after all, this is
time spent in the shop), you can keep
some of those extras and upgrade the
materials and improve the quality. I
found this out first-hand with this
kitchen project.

Because kitchen configurations

can vary so greatly, I built one basic
wall of cabinets shown above. The
wall measures just over 12 feet long
and has a double-hung window

centered within the space. I wanted
the sink to be located directly
underneath the window. Since there
isn’t a soffit in this room, I could use
extra-tall (42") wall-hung cabinets.

To help justify building the cabi-

nets, I decided to do a little compar-
ison shopping. So I took the layout to
a local home center and asked them
to fill the space with stock cabinets.
The stock cabinets I selected were a
raised-panel style in red oak that fell
slightly above mid-range in price.

(See the description and photo of
these cabinets at the bottom of the

next page

To outfit the kitchen with these

basic, no-frill oak cabinets (see the

next page

), the estimated cost was

$2,553.When I asked them to price
the same set-up in cherry, it jumped
to $3,403. Shipping to our door was
another $110.

By contrast, materials for the

cherry cabinets I built cost less than
$1,400. And my design included a

24"

Window

Dishwasher

Sink

145

!/2

Obviously, you can’t just start building

cabinets without extensive planning.
While we don’t have room to address
those issues here, we can steer you in the
right direction.

Some of the best information on kitchen

layout and design that I found was pub-
lished by kitchen cabinet manufacturers.
The free brochures at home centers contain
checklists of what to consider: appliance
sizes, utility locations, and the types of activ-

ities and features that are important to you.
They provide grids for laying out the
kitchen and are excellent sources for ideas
on cabinet styles and layouts.

For additional reading, check out

Kitchens That Work: A Practical Guide to
Creating a Great Kitchen by Martin and
Richard Edic (Taunton, 1999), and Building
Traditional Kitchen Cabinets by Jim Tolpin
(Taunton, 1994). Check your library or
contact Taunton Press at (800) 477-8727.

FLOOR PLAN

PLANNING AND IDEAS

From Workbench Magazine

Page 2

PlansNOW.com

20"-deep above-counter pantry
unit with a built-in cutting board
and a knife rack (see

page 12

). Such

a unit wasn’t available in stock cabi-
netry except as a 24"-deep, full-
height pantry unit that over-
whelmed the small space.

In fact, the cost was so far below

stock cabinets I was able to add in a
few more extras. One particularly
nice touch was the display cabinet
with beveled glass in both the door
and the exposed side. The cabinets
also feature custom frame-and-
panel cabinet ends and a cove mold-
ing along the ceiling.

MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONS

If you stop by any home center you
can find stock cabinets in oak,
maple, cherry, hickory, pine, and
birch. In most cases, at least the face
frames, doors, and drawer fronts will
be solid wood.

If you build your own cabinets,

you’re not limited to these materials
(see some other options top right).

Another advantage is being able

to select and match grain pattern
and color. Manufacturers can’t afford
to spend time doing this. Instead,
grain patterns are random and they
use a toner to give the wood a uni-
form color and appearance.

The materials used commercially

for cabinet carcases, drawer boxes,
shelves, and interior divider panels
can vary widely. Usually, at least some
of these parts are made from vinyl-
covered particleboard or melamine.

Because my cabinet project

required relatively small quantities
of material for these parts, the total

cost difference to upgrade from ½"-
thick melamine to ¾" veneer ply-
wood was fairly insignificant.

RAISED PANEL SUBSTITUTES

I decided to build these cabinets
using raised panels. And I’ll admit it
added both time and cost to glue up
solid wood panels, but I thought it
was worth it.

A quicker, less expensive option

is to build flat panel doors using ¼"
veneer plywood (see the top photo
at right).

If painted cabinets will work in

your kitchen, you might want to
consider milling the raised panels in
medium density fiberboard (MDF)
and building the rails and stiles in
poplar. Inexpensive MDF offers the
added advantage of being stable,
compared to the expansion and
contraction of solid wood panels.

SHOP-MADE MATERIAL COSTS:

STOCK CABINET COSTS:

(Raised-panel red oak)

(2) Wall Cabinets (12"D x 27"W x 42"H)

$475.54

(2) Wall Cabinets (12"D x 30"W x 42"H)

492.90

(1) Three-drwr. Unit (12"D x 30"W x 18"H)

301.94

(1) Base w/Pots/Pans Drwr. (24"D x 30" W)

377.27

(1) Base w/ Trays (24"D x 36"W)

380.99

(1) Base w/4 Drwr. (24"D x 18"W)

194.37

(1) Sink Base (24"D x 42"W)

221.34

(1) Scalloped Valance

49.60

(1) 3"-Wide Base Filler

17.67

(1) 3"-Wide Wall Filler

26.66

(2) Matching Toe kick Panels

14.88

TOTAL $2,553.16

4/4 Cherry - 100 bd. ft @ $4.95/bd. ft.

$495.00

(Face frames, doors, drawer fronts, toekicks)

4/4 Birch - 30 bd. ft @ $2.69/bd. ft.

80.70

(Drawer sides, nailers, blocking)

" Birch plywood - 5 sheets @ $52.50/sheet

262.50

(Carcase sides, bottoms, dividers, shelves)

" Birch plywood - 5 sheets @ $18.69/sheet

93.45

(Carcase backs, drawer bottoms)

22" Accuride full extension drawer slides

148.50

(11 pr. @ $13.50/pr)

18" Accuride full extension drawer slides

12.50

(1 pr @ $12.50/pr)

Beveled glass (2 pieces)

100.00

Bin pulls (antique brass) - 16 @ $1.40 ea.

22.40

Knobs (antique brass) - 11 @ $1.10 ea.

12.10

Hinges (antique brass) - 12 pr @ $1.99/pr.

23.88

Miscellaneous hardware

30.00

Stain and Finish

60.00

TOTAL

$1,341.03

NOTE: The costs shown do not include countertop.

The stock cabinets as priced do not come with knobs

and drawer pulls. Stock cabinet installation is avail-

able from most dealers at $30-$50 per linear foot.

My shop-built cabinets feature

" inset, solid cherry

raised panel doors with wide rails. These features

weren’t available in stock cabinetry.

Poplar

and MDF

(painted)

Flat panel

cherry

Curly

maple

Quartersawn

white oak

Walnut

STOCK CABINETS: OVERVIEW

So you could see the actual differences
between stock cabinets and our shop-
built units, we bought two base cabi-
nets and two wall-hung units built by
a nationally-known manufacturer.

We had to order them through a

local home center — few distributors
actually carry an inventory of cabinets.
Even with the current building and
remodeling boom, it took just four
weeks for delivery.

These cabinets, pictured at right,

were a basic straight frame-and-raised
panel design that represented the
upper middle price range. For addi-
tional cost, we could have upgraded
some components (more decorative
arched panels, plywood side panels,
and heavier drawer slides).

At the bottom of the following

pages we’ll show construction details
of these cabinets.

From Workbench Magazine

Page 3

PlansNOW.com

Toe kick

Face frame

Corner

brace

Nailer

Back

Carcase

side

Carcase

side

Rail

Drawer

rail

Rail

Stile

Center

stile

Divider

WALL CABINET

BASE CABINET

CABINET STANDARDS EXPLAINED

If you think about it, cabinets are
really furniture for the kitchen. And
like most furniture, stock cabinets
are built to standard dimensions that
make them comfortable to work at.

The primary dimensions for cab-

inets are shown in the End View
above.The surface of a countertop is
typically 36" high, ideal for most
kitchen tasks.

Standard depth for base cabinets

(not including the countertop) is 24".
If they’re deeper, it puts you farther
away from the wall cabinets and lim-
its how far up and out you can reach.

Base units also have a toe kick

space that’s 3" deep and 4" high.The
toe kick lets you stand up close to the
cabinets without bumping your toes.

Standard wall cabinet depth is

usually 12" — just deep enough to
hold most dinner plates. The height
can range from 30" to 42", depend-
ing on whether the room has a soffit.

There’s usually 18" of separation

between the countertop surface and
the bottom of the wall cabinets.This
puts the middle shelf in the upper
cabinets at roughly 72" — a height
most people can still reach without
getting a step stool.

Width for most stock cabinets

varies from 12" to 48", in 3" incre-
ments.The drawback here is that not
every wall space neatly fits this 3"
scheme. My 12' 1½"-long wall, for
example, would have required me to
buy a filler strip and trim it to 1½"-
wide to “extend” the stock cabinets.

SIZED TO FIT

The beauty of building your own
cabinets is that you’re not locked
into these dimensions.They can still
serve as a guide, but you can vary
them to fit your particular needs.

For example, you can vary

heights and widths to easily work
around strange door and window
configurations. A shorter base cabi-
net puts the counter at a height that
makes kneading and rolling out
dough easier for bakers.

While some manufacturers now

offer “universal design” cabinets that
accommodate persons with physical
disabilities (including those in wheel-
chairs), you can really tailor your
shop-built cabinets to meet individ-
ual needs. It’s all of those custom

ANATOMY OF A CABINET

24"

36"

26"

12"

18"

30" - 42"

STANDARD CABINET DIMENSIONS

(

E N D V I E W

)

From Workbench Magazine

Page 4

PlansNOW.com

This base cabinet is

built as a single unit.

Continuous rail

End stiles

extend to floor

Continuous toe kick

Dishwasher

Cabinet butted against

wall without need for

filler strip.

16 "

!/4

!/2

touches that provide one of the
greatest incentives for building
instead of buying.

MAXIMIZE THE SPACE

The concept behind stock cabinets
is that manufacturers build a variety
of small, easy-to-handle units that
can be combined to fit most any sit-
uation.They’re easy to mass produce
and sized so the cabinet companies
can get maximum usage from stan-
dard sized sheet goods. And com-
pact sizes (42" widths or less) are
easier to ship and store.

While this approach works well

for the manufacturers, distributors,
and installers, it winds up wasting
space. Especially in a small kitchen
where space is extremely valuable,
you don’t want to waste even a few
extra inches.

At first glance, the main section

of cabinets in the two drawings on
this page look similar. Look closer
and you’ll see that large base cabinet
at the left (above) is a single unit
compared to the three separate
stock cabinets (below).

By building one large unit, it

eliminated the double stiles and gaps
between the separate cabinets (see
the photo at right). I was able to use
this extra space to make drawers
that are 14

" wide inside, com-

pared to only 13" in the stock unit.

There’s another advantage as

well. It took less material — two
end panels, two dividers, and four
stiles vs. six end panels and six stiles
on the stock set. I also think the
continuous rails and toekick, and
the single stiles give my cabinets a
much cleaner look.

Cabinets this large

can be hard to move
once they’re assembled
(that’s another reason
you can’t buy a stock
cabinet this size). But as
you’ll see on the

next

page

, the parts can be

machined ahead of
time and easily assem-
bled in the kitchen just
prior to installation.

When you lay out

your cabinets, look for
the natural breaks
between cabinet sections, such as gaps
for appliances. For example, I
designed my base cabinets in two sec-
tions, fitting them on either side of
the dishwasher.The larger unit incor-
porates the sink base, a drawer unit
and a drawer-and-doors base.

15"

!/2

Screws hold
face frames

together.

CUSTOM CABINET LAYOUT

A single stile and a

"-thick

plywood divider panel sepa-

rate compartments in the

large base unit.

When you install stock base cabinets, you
have to shim the cabinets plumb and level
to the room and each other — a time
consuming process. Once they’re lined up,
the face frames are clamped together and
long screws driven to fasten the face
frames together.

You also wind up with a double-wide

stile (with a joint line) where two cabinets
meet. It just doesn’t look as clean and
consistent as single width stiles.

STOCK CABINETS: MULTIPLE BOXES TAKE EXTRA SETUP

From Workbench Magazine

Page 5

PlansNOW.com

Carcase

side

Nailer

Notch

for

nailer

#/4"-wide dado,

" deep

!/4

Carcase

bottom

Toe kick

Divider

panel

Back

30"

24"

#/4

Toe kick F

#/4"

Bottom

Nailer

Carcase

side

Divider

BUILDING THE BASES

At this point, you’ve seen some of the
basic considerations that went into
my kitchen design. Now it’s time to
roll up the sleeves and get into the
actual construction.

The first step is to build the base

units. As you can see in the drawings
at right and on the

next page

, the

base units are simply big plywood
boxes with dividers and a face frame
on the front.

I built the boxes (carcases) out of

birch veneer plywood. I decided
against melamine or MDF core ply-
wood because those materials lose
much of their strength once you cut
through the outer skin/veneer.
(They also produce some nasty dust.)

I used ¾" plywood for the car-

case sides (A), the carcase bottom
(B), and the divider panels (C). The
back (D) is ¼" plywood.

The nailer (E), used

for mounting the cab-
inet to the wall, is solid
birch. Since the toe
kick (F) is the only
exposed portion of the
carcase, I made it from
solid cherry.

One trick I learned

early on was to perform
all similar machining
operations together.
That way, I didn’t waste
time switching tool
setups back and forth.
For example, I cut all
the cabinet parts to size
first, then installed my
dado blade and made
all the joinery cuts.

USE SIMPLE JOINERY

Joinery in the carcases is simple but
strong. Dadoes are cut in the sides (A)
to accept the bottom (B), and rabbets
are cut along the back edge of the
sides for the back (D) as shown in the
photos at left and the drawing above.

The bottom is dadoed for the

divider panels (C) and grooved on
the lower face for the toe kick (F).
Besides strength, these dadoes and
grooves help keep things lined up
squarely during assembly.

To fit the nailer (E) in place, I

notched the top corner of the
divider panels using a jigsaw. Screws
hold the nailer to the divider panels
and the carcase sides.

The plywood back completes

the carcase and helps square up the
entire assembly. I glued and clamped
the back to the nailer and nailed it
to the sides, divider panels, and bot-
tom using ¾"-long ringshank nails.
The rings grab the wood so the nails
won’t loosen up over time.

So you could see the actual differences
between stock cabinets and our shop-
built units, we ordered two base cabinets

and two wall-hung units.

When they arrived, the overall fit

and finish was rough — doors and
drawers weren’t aligned, some drawer
slide attachment screws were missing.

However, the carcase construction

was a real disappointment. Before the
cabinets were even removed from the

box, the lightweight pine nailer on one
of the base cabinets pulled off (see the
photo at right).The only things holding
the nailer in place were a couple of small
dabs of hot-melt glue and two staples
driven from the back side into a pair of
MDF braces. It would take little force
for the cabinet to pull away from the
wall with this design.

The carcase sides, bottom, back, and

shelves were all vinyl-covered particle

board. The sides and bottom were both

"-thick and the back was

"-thick.

The bottom was set into dadoes cut in
the sides and hot-melt glued in place.

CABINET BASE CARCASE ASSEMBLY

The nailer fits between the

carcase sides and against the

back. A brace adds support.

The bottom fits into a dado

cut in the carcase side. The

toe kick supports the bottom.

STOCK CABINETS: CARCASE CONSTRUCTION

From Workbench Magazine

Page 6

PlansNOW.com

Pocket hole

screws

Intermediate

stiles

(2" wide)

End stile

(2" wide)

Panel

end cover

Rail

" wide)

!/2

Corner brace

End stile

Drawer rail

" wide)

!/2

Note: All face frame
pieces and corner
braces are cut from

" thick hardwood.

#/4

ADD THE FACE FRAMES

Face frames dress up the front of the
cabinet and add structural strength as
well. When building face frames in
the past, I’ve used dowels, biscuits, and
even mortises and tenons to join the
horizontal rails and vertical stiles.

The size of this project, however,

was the perfect excuse to try out a
new technique. I’d heard that
pocket hole joinery was a quick and
accurate way to assemble face
frames and this project proved it.

Looking at the completed cabi-

nets, the stiles and rails all appear to be
the same width.The rails (H) are 1½"
wide, but the doors overlap the inter-
mediate stiles (I) on two sides, so I
made them 2" wide so the amount
left exposed was the same as the rails.

The end stiles (G) are left wider

to cover the framed end panels that
get added later or to give you some
extra for scribing to the wall.

One other added feature of my

face frame design is that the end
stiles extend down to the floor.This
gives the base units a furniture look
while covering the carcase ends.

With the face frame parts cut to

width and length, the pocket hole
jig (shown at right) is used to drill a
couple of angled holes on the back
side of the rails (H). Then the end
stiles (G) and rails, are lined up and
clamped together.

Once everything’s positioned, two

screws are driven across the joint (you
don’t even need glue). The interme-
diate stiles (I) are then attached to the

rails the same way, followed by the
drawer rails (J).

Before installing the face frame

on the carcase, I applied finish to the
inside surfaces of the carcase and
stain and one coat of finish to the
face frame. It lets you get to both
sides of the face frame and eliminates
the need for masking off the carcase.

The pocket hole screws came in

handy again when it
was time to attach the
face frame to the car-
case (Detail b).

Corner braces (K)

complete the base cab-
inet. These help stiffen
the carcase and provide
a way to fasten the
countertop to the base.

Like my cabinets, the face frames on
these cabinets were

"-thick solid

wood.And the stiles and rails were held
together with pocket hole screws.

Instead of mounting flush with the

carcase sides, the stock cabinets’ stiles
had a shallow groove cut in the back
side to accept the carcase sides (photo
at near right). To hold the face frames
to the carcase, the manufacturer used

hot-melt glue and triangular shaped

pneumatic fasteners.

As you can see in the photo at the far

right, the grain patterns and even wood
color used in the rails and stiles vary

greatly. While the faces were sanded
smooth, some of the rail and stile edges
still showed saw marks from when the
parts were ripped to width.

FACE FRAME ASSEMBLY

Pocket hole

screws

Panel

end cover

Carcase side

End stile

Rail

STOCK FACE FRAMES

From Workbench Magazine

Page 7

PlansNOW.com

Rail

Nailer

Paneled end

cover

Stile

Back

Side

Intermediate

stile

Bottom

Top

Beveled

glass

Stopped

cove

Stile

1 "

!/2

#/8

Stile overlaps
paneled
end cover.

Paneled
end cover

WALL CABINET
CONSTRUCTION

The basic construction
of the wall cabinets is
similar to the base
units. The ¾"-thick
plywood carcase sides
(L) are dadoed for the
bottom (M), and rab-
beted for the top (N)
and back (O).

The main differ-

ence (besides the shal-
lower depth) is the
addition of a second
nailer (P). While the

floor supports the load for base cab-
inets, wall cabinets must support
their own weight plus the weight of
what you put in them.With mount-
ing screws driven through the nail-
ers and into the wall framing, these
cabinets are rock solid.

As mentioned earlier,

this

kitchen didn’t have a soffit. So I
opted for 42"-tall cabinets that
extend to the ceiling. Seldom used
items go on the harder-to-reach top
shelves. But at least when this stuff is
stored inside the cabinets — instead
of on top of 30" or 36" cabinets —
it doesn’t collect dust.

In a larger kitchen, I might have

considered using a mix of short and
tall cabinets to provide display areas
for plants or collectibles and create a
visual break.

The shelves in the upper cabinets

are ¾"-thick plywood with birch
edgebanding (see photo at left). To
keep things simple, I drilled a series of
evenly spaced (2" apart), ¼"-dia. holes
in the carcase sides for adjustable shelf
support pins. To position these holes
consistently, I used a 2" × 30" strip of
pegboard as a drilling guide.

The face frames go together just

like those for the base cabinets —
with pocket-hole joinery. The rails
(Q) are drilled, then screwed to the
end stiles (R).The intermediate stile
(S) is screwed to the rails.

To keep the compartments wide

open, I let the doors butt together,
eliminating the need for a divider
stile. This was also possible because
the plywood shelves are strong
enough to resist sagging. Many stock
cabinets have extra shelf pins in the
divider stile to hold up the center of
the shelves.

The exposed ends of the cabinets

receive frame-and-panel covers, so I
made the corresponding stiles wide
enough to overlap both the carcase
end and cover (Detail b). For added
interest, I routed a

" stopped cove

along the length of the exposed
stiles as shown above.

Construction and materials used on
the stock wall units were similar to the
stock base units. The

"-thick parti-

cleboard top and bottom fit into
dadoes cut in the

"-thick particle-

board sides.

The backs were mere

"-thick

pressboard and add little to the struc-
tural integrity of the cabinets.The cab-
inets had nailers (

"-thick pine) at the

top and bottom as well as a

"-thick

plywood brace across the center of the
back. But that’s not much to support
the cabinets when they’re fully loaded
with china.

The face frames were joined with

pocket hole screws, but held to the
carcase with those triangular-shaped
pneumatic fasteners. While the shelves
were a full

"-thick, they were just

vinyl-covered particleboard and were
held in place with plastic shelf pins.

WALL CABINET

ASSEMBLY

Adjustable,

edgebanded ply-

wood shelves

will support

heavy loads

without sagging.

42 "

#/8

!/2

#/4

!/2

#/4

" rabbet,

" deep

Glass End Panel

(left end)

Right End Panel

STOCK CABINETS: WALL UNIT CONSTRUCTION

T O P V I E W

From Workbench Magazine

Page 8

PlansNOW.com

Paneled

end cover

Scribed

to fit

countertop

Scribe stile

to fit wall

Fascia

Cleat

Bottom panel

Runners

VALANCE ASSEMBLY

PANTRY ASSEMBLY

20"

Holes for puck lights

Fascia

Runner

Cleat

Bottom panel

”

#/4”

!/4

#/8

" dia. X

" deep

1!/2"

%/8" wire

brad

Beveled glass

!/4" !/4"

glass stop

CREATING CUSTOM DETAILS

Most of the custom features I added
to the wall cabinets came about
because I couldn’t find anything
similar in stock cabinets. For exam-
ple, I could buy a cabinet with a
glass door, but couldn’t find one
with a glass end panel.

So, I created a display cabinet by

building a paneled end cover frame
and installed glass instead of the
wood panel — Glass Installation
Detail. Unlike the other cabinets, this
frame is part of the carcase. So once I
assembled the frame, I cut a dado and
rabbets in the inside face to accept
the carcase top, bottom and back.

You’ll notice in Detail a that the

rear stile is wider than the front one
and that the rabbet is cut deeper
than the ¼"-thick back. That extra
strip allows you to easily scribe the
cabinet to the wall.

I considered building some shal-

low cabinets to go above the win-
dow, but decided lights shining on
the sink below were more impor-
tant than the small amount of stor-
age space to be gained. The simple
valance shown above bridges the
window and connects the two
banks of cabinets.

The arched fascia (T) attaches to

the

" plywood bottom panel (U)

and runner (W).Two cleats (V) attach
to the cabinets to provide a mounting
surface for the bottom (Detail c).

The bottom panel holds two

xenon “puck” lights (see

page 13

)

and hides the wiring and ceiling.
Once the wall cabinets were
installed, I added matching surface-
mounted pucks on the cabinets’
underside to brighten up the coun-
tertop work areas.

The tall pantry cabinet, to the far

right above and detailed in the
drawings below, was another extra I
added. For starters, it’s 20" deep and

that extra depth easily holds cereal
boxes and food containers too large
to fit in regular 12"-deep cabinets.

It also runs from the counter to

ceiling (60"). The only way to get
that height in stock cabinets was to
stack a 42"-cabinet on top of an
18"-high drawer unit.

As you’ll see on

page 13

, this

cabinet also contains a built-in cut-
ting board and knife rack in the
pullout drawer.

T O P V I E W

GLASS INSTALLATION DETAIL

E N D V I E W

From Workbench Magazine

Page 9

PlansNOW.com

!/2”

Rail

Stub tenon

Panel

Stile

#/8” lip

Panel

Field

STREAMLINE THE DOORS

All the stock cabinets I looked at had
overlay doors. The doors aren’t set
into the face frame, but lay com-
pletely on top of it.That ¾" thickness
sticking out always looks a little
clunky to me.

That’s why I decided to use

inset (sometimes called partial over-
lay) doors and drawer fronts on my
cabinets (see drawings above). They
have a

"-thick lip that overlaps the

face frame while the rest of the door’s
thickness is inset into the opening.

I also wanted raised panel doors.

In the past, I’ve cut raised panels on
my table saw, but even a sharp blade
can leave saw marks and burns, espe-

cially in cherry. So I invested in a
raised panel router bit.

The bit cut smoothly, eliminating

most of the sanding.The bit profile I
chose cut a flat bevel (Detail a).

MAKING THE FRAMES

To keep the doors simple, I used stub
tenon and groove joinery on the stiles
(X) and rails (Y) as shown in the Door
Assembly View.To fit the panel (Z) to
the frame and get it positioned prop-
erly, I made a number of test pieces.

With the panel field cut

" high,

I had to cut a shallow rabbet on the
back edge of the panel so it would fit
in the ¼"-wide grooves (Detail a).
You’ll also notice that the grooves
(and tenons) are shifted slightly off
center so the front face of the panel
won’t protrude too far beyond the
surface of the frame.

SIZING THE DOORS AND PANELS

Before you start cutting, it pays to
work out all the door and panel sizes
on paper. Start by measuring the
openings in the face frame. As a gen-
eral rule, doors should be at least
twice as tall as they are wide. This
makes it easy to know if an opening
needs one or two doors.

To account for the lips and hinges

and have some room for adjustment,
I added ½" to both the width and
height of the opening.

For example, the opening on the

pantry cabinet measured 24" wide ×
50

" high. The total width for the

two doors was 24½", so I made each
door 12¼" wide × 50

" high.

With the door sizes set, the rail

length and panel width can be calcu-
lated.The stiles are 2½" wide, so the
door width minus 5" gives you the
size of the opening inside the frame.

But you have to add

" to that

distance to account for the two

grooves for the tenons and panel. So
for the 12¼"-wide pantry doors, the

Many stock cabinets come with cope
and stick construction on the doors (see
the photo at left). Instead of a plain stub
tenon, the ends of the rails are coped to
match the profile on the inside edge of
the stiles. This joint usually requires a
pair of matched router bits or shaper
cutters and creates a strong joint.

To visually reduce how the full over-

lay doors stick out from the face frame,
a profile is cut around the outer face of

the door frame. A vinyl bumper insert
on the back of the frame cushions the
door when it closes — a nice touch.

The panels on the stock cabinets we

bought were solid wood, but like the
face and door frames, the grain patterns
varied widely.

On the cabinets with doors that butt

together, the gap between the doors
wasn’t uniform, but could be adjusted
easily by fine-tuning the hinges.

STOCK CABINETS: COPE AND STICK DOORS

#/8”

!/16”

#/4”

!/4”

!/4” %/16”

%/16”

!/16”

!/2”

Stile

Note: No rabbet on stiles where two doors meet.

Stile

Panel

DOOR ASSEMBLY

S E C T I O N V I E W

From Workbench Magazine

Page 10

PlansNOW.com

!/4" plywood bottom

Drawer box side

(

" birch)

!/2

Drawer box side

Drawer

box back

Full extension

drawer slide

False front

(

#/4" cherry)

Attach false

drawer front with

#6 x 1" wood screws.

Drawer front

(

" birch)

!/2

rails would be 7

" long (12¼" -

(2½" + 2½") + (

" +

").

To allow for some cross-grain

expansion, I made the panels

narrower than the length of the rails.

To determine panel height, sub-

tract the total width of the two rails
(7") from the door height. (The rails
are wider — 3½" — than the stiles.)
Then add back in the

" for the two

grooves to get total height. Since
panels will expand a little lengthwise,
subtract

" from this total.

Once all the dimensions were

nailed down, I cut to size and labeled
the panels, rails, and stiles for each
door. Using the test pieces I made
earlier as a setup guide, I machined
the grooves in all the rails and stiles.

With the grooves cut, I cut the

“deeper” face of all the stub tenons,
then lowered the blade and cut the
other, shallower face. Then I routed
the the profile in all of the panels.

Next, I dry-fit the frames around

the panels. Only the rails and stiles
get glued together — the panels

should “float” in the frames. But
before gluing the doors up, I applied
stain to the panels.This ensures uni-
form color across the entire panel,
even if it shifts slightly in the frame.

With the doors assembled, you

can cut the rabbets that create the lip
(Detail a). But don’t rabbet the door
stiles where two doors will meet.

DOVETAIL DRAWERS

One stock cabinet feature I copied
was half-blind dovetail joinery for the
drawers (see the Drawer Assembly
View). A dovetail joint’s interlocking
pins can stand up to the strong forces
exerted when a drawer is yanked
open or slammed shut.

You might think it took a long

time to cut dovetails for 12 drawers.

But once I got my dovetail jig
adjusted, the actual cutting went
quickly.

All the drawers in each bank are

identical in size except for height.
Even the ¼" plywood bottom panels
(CC) are the same.

ADD FALSE FRONTS

False drawer fronts (DD) simplify the
drawer installation. They let you
install the drawer slides and box first,
then position each front so it lines up
properly on the face frame opening.

Like the doors, the drawer fronts

are lipped for a

" inset, as shown

in Detail b. And you size the false
fronts the same way as the doors,
adding

" to the opening’s size.

The drawers in the stock cabinets we
bought had dovetail joints and were
equipped with full extension under-
mount-style slides. The drawer portion
mounted to the underside of the drawer
so the slide was hidden (although you
lose a little bit of drawer height).

Plastic catches (top right photo) on

the underside of the drawer, clipped
onto the slides and allow slight adjust-
ments in the position of the drawer.

The slides operated fairly smoothly and
had a positive, self-closing feature.

The hinges (pictured lower right)

were a Euro-style cup hinge designed
for face-frame cabinets. One nice fea-
ture is that they allow minor adjust-
ments to the door position — both up
and down and side to side. Because of
the overlay style of door, these hinges
were hidden from view when the
doors were closed.

The drawer boxes feature

" birch sides joined at

the front and back with

half-blind dovetails

#/8" inset false front

Full extension drawer slide

Drawer box

Drawer slide

mounting cleats

DRAWER ASSEMBLY

STOCK CABINETS: DRAWERS, HARDWARE

From Workbench Magazine

Page 11

PlansNOW.com

#/4"-thick

laminated maple
cutting board

#/8" inset false front

Rubber feet

!/8"-deep,

!/16"-wide saw kerf (cut with a thin-kerf blade)

!/4" Hardboard cleat

!/2"

!/8"-deep,

!/16"-wide saw kerf.

False front

Drawer slide
mounting cleats

Cutting board

False drawer front

Hardboard cleats

%/8

!/4" plywood bottom

Tray side

(

" birch)

!/2

Tray front/back

(

" birch)

!/2

Note: Tray width equals door opening,

less allowance for drawer slides.

Full-extension

drawer slide

MOUNTING THE SLIDES

The side-mounted drawer slides
used throughout the cabinets need to
be mounted flush with opening in
the face frame. To do this I first
screwed mounting cleats at the front

and back of the cabinet on both sides
of the drawer openings (Detail a).
These cleats, made from 2x4 stock,
were planed down until they fit flush
with the face frame.The cabinet part
of the slide fastened to these cleats.

LOOK FOR THE EXTRAS

Now that you’ve seen how the basic
boxes go together and also some of
the more dramatic features, it’s time
to take a look at some extra features
that aren’t as obvious.

One feature I’m proud of is the

drawer built into the pantry cabinet.
Designed to look like a pair of draw-
ers to echo the twin doors above it,
the one large drawer holds a cutting
board and knife rack (Cutting Board
Drawer Assembly and Detail b).

The laminated maple cutting

board rests on ¼"-thick hardwood
cleats fit into the front and back
panels (Detail a). The cutting board
has rubber feet and is designed with
built-in handholds to lift out for
use. But if counter space is limited,
you could use the cutting board
while it’s in the drawer.

The great thing about this drawer

is that it got an old free-standing
knife-block off the countertop, yet

the knives are still handy.At 18" deep
and 23" wide, the drawer easily holds
a flat knife rack with space left for
storing small cutting boards or other
knife accessories. (The knife rack was
featured in the January/February
2000 issue of Workbench.)

TRAYS REPLACE SHELVES

Another hidden feature is tucked
away behind the doors in the base
cabinets. Instead of fixed shelves or
ones that rest on adjustable shelf pins,
the base cabinets feature pull-out
trays, as shown at left below.

Like the drawers, these shallow

trays ride on full extension slides.
They make it easy to organize and
access pots, pans, and storage contain-
ers that normally get stacked haphaz-
ardly in fixed-shelf cabinets.

Such trays are available as an

option in stock cabinetry. (It cost an
extra $54 to add four small pullout
trays to the standard 36" wide base
unit pictured back on

page 3

To get wide-open access to the

space, I designed my base cabinets
with two wide trays that spanned the
full door opening.The plywood car-
case is rigid enough that a center stile
between the doors wasn’t necessary.

CUTTING BOARD DRAWER ASSEMBLY

The cutting board is inset into

the drawer and serves as a

cover for the knife rack.

From Workbench Magazine

Page 12

PlansNOW.com

CHOOSE CUSTOM HARDWARE

One way to put your own touch on
the cabinets is with hardware. Since
the drawer slides and hinges are tied
to the cabinets’ design, it’s best to get
them early in the planning process.
But the knobs and pulls can wait until
you’ve got the cabinets built.

The stock cabinets I priced did

not come with door knobs or drawer
pulls — these were available as an
option in a limited number of styles.

" inset doors and drawer

fronts, pulls and knobs are a necessity.
But you can choose from hundreds of
stock or special order styles available
at home centers or from mail order
catalogs.

Hardware customization doesn’t

have to stop with knobs and pulls.
Many of the special bins, racks, and
turntables offered as options by cabi-
net manufacturers are available from
mail order catalogs such as
Woodworker’s Supply (800–645-
9292) and Rockler Woodworking
and Hardware (800–279-4441).

FINAL TOUCHES

As mentioned earlier, I also added low-
voltage puck lighting to the valance,
shown in the photo right,and under the
cabinets to light the countertop work
areas. I chose xenon lights because they
burn brighter than halogen bulbs and
produce less heat. The three-light kit,
order no. 73549 - $99.99, is from
Rockler.

The finishing touch was the addition

of a 2" cove molding along the top of
the wall cabinets. It dresses up the cabi-
nets, but more importantly it helps hide
any gaps between the cabinets and ceil-
ing.Since I couldn’t find a cove molding
this size in cherry,I stained a birch mold-
ing to match the cabinets.

Finish on the cabinets is a stain cov-

ered with three coats of polyurethane.To
get the look of aged cherry,I used a mix-
ture of three parts Zar cherry stain with
one part Wood-Kote Cherry Jel’d Stain.
The latter gel stain minimizes blotching
that sometimes occurs with cherry.

Building your own kitchen cabi-

nets is a big job — probably the

largest woodworking project you’ll ever
take on. But the quality that you can
build into them and the daily use they’ll
get makes it one of the most worth-
while projects I can think of to
imporove your home.

Puck-style xenon lights and cove

molding add finishing touches.

From Workbench Magazine

Page 13

PlansNOW.com

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